Engineering and BIM

In-house capacity, from foundations to finishing

In-House Engineering Department

At all times the teams of BESIX can rely on the expertise and creativity of its in-house engineering department equally split between Europe (BESIX - Brussels) and the Middle East (Six Construct - Dubai Engineering Department). Our over 150 engineers have the right attitude, competences and experience to maximize the value of our projects for and with our clients. Honoring the first time right principle, we ensure intense collaboration between the off and on site teams for a flawless execution, cutting failure cost.

In order to ensure our strong commitment to constructability and safety BESIX Engineering department can build on the expertise of an integrated methods and planning department.

By uniting the knowhow of our experts, many of which are also academic authorities in their field, we can offer full-fledged solutions.

BIG in BIM

Since 2010, Six Construct has been embracing the new opportunities Building Information Modeling has brought to the construction sector. We have created a strong team which has been involved in more than 70 projects worldwide. Using BIM enables us to anticipate, prioritise and solve clashes and supports an agile approach when sudden change requests occur.

BIM is a way of sharing information between a number of partners on a construction project, creating a structured way of organising the whole process using digital 3D models.

In practical terms, BIM creates a model of a construction that no longer uses lines, but instead, digital objects representing the materials and systems: the frame, roofing, walls, installations etc. This technique guarantees an accurate representation of the project, but it also lets you associate certain details with the digital objects, such as their technical properties, their relationship with other objects, how they will be positioned etc.

The BIM approach offers a solution to the problems often encountered on a building site by analysing the sources of any conflicts in advance, so-called “clash detection”, which significantly reduces the cost of errors.

King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, Jeddah, KSA

Saudi Aramco awarded this contract to the JV BESIX-Six Construct and Al Muhaidib in September 2011 for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction of the entire complex. Scope of works included the turn key execution of a 60,000 seated world class stadium, the Centerpiece of the King Abdullah Sports City, a 2,000 spectator multipurpose indoor stadium, a 500 person mosque, and execution of all associated infrastructure works such as 45,000 open asphalted car parking spaces, 8 kilometers of asphalted road works and 2 kilometers of pedestrian walkways.

Ajman Sewerage, UAE

25-year concession - BOOT contract for a sewerage system and a waste water treatment plant of 120,000 m³/day to serve 500,000 habitants. Six Construct has built and operates both the sewer system and the wastewater treatment plant and reuse of treated water for irrigation and industrial use.
BESIX owns the asset together with the Government of Ajman and Veolia.

Ras Laffan Port, Qatar

Operational LNG berthing facility in Ras Laffan Port (Qatar) needed urgent repairs due to concrete delamination caused by Delayed Ettringite Formation. The unreinforced concrete structure showed a high collapse risk. The occupancy rate of the 12 Ras Laffan berth is above 70%. Closing a berth for repair substantially impacts the gas export capacity of Qatar. Ras Laffan managed to close the berth for 2 months at the most.

Value Engineering

Six Construct is experienced in providing ‘value engineering’, a creative and organised process of thorough study and analysis that combines the insights of multidisciplinary teams, benefiting the entire life cycle of a project. The goal is to limit building costs, maximally reduce risks and prolong a project’s life span without compromising the functional objectives. This holistic, integrated design approach is crucial in completing demanding DBM or PPP projects.

This is how we make a difference.

BESIX is experienced in providing ‘value engineering’, a creative and organised process of thorough study and analysis that combines the insights of multidisciplinary teams, benefiting the entire life cycle of a project. The goal is to limit building costs, maximally reduce risks and prolong a project’s life span without compromising the functional objectives. This holistic, integrated design approach is crucial in completing demanding DBM or PPP projects.

This is how we make a difference.

Renovating the ADNOC Tower, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2010-2017).

SITUATION

The ADNOC Tower is located on the Abu Dhabi Corniche and consists of a 75-storey office tower and two levels of basements. The overall building height is 343 m with a gross office area of 160.000 m2. At the top, a large void is framed with a 67m sky bridge supporting a helipad.
The project started in May 2010 and will be completed in August 2017. Once the building is completed it is earmarked to be one of the major landmarks along Abu Dhabi’s Corniche.

CHALLENGES

Many challenges were identified while studying the tender documents. Indeed, the original design called for numerous and heavy steel inserts in the columns and the core walls. Those steel inserts were not only costly but they made the construction more complicated. Post tensioning was required in the concrete slabs, which was impacting the execution planning. Finally, it appeared clearly that the construction of the helipad sky bridge would call for innovative solutions. Combined with a tight planning, only deep modifications of the original design could ensure a safe execution within the requested timeframe and budget.

SOLUTION

By using different materials and design codes than those specified in the tender documents together with appropriate construction technics Six Construct has been able to reduce significantly the quantity of steel in the structure. Using higher steel and concrete grades together with a rearrangement of the column cross sections led to a more convenient solution.
Using local expertise and technology, slabs posttensioning was also cancelled leading to a more economical design, easier to execute.

Six Construct developed a unique and spectacular strand jacking method for the construction of the helipad sky bridge. The decision to jack the 1050 tons structures from ground to their permanent positions at 342m was the brainchild of Dubai Engineering Department in a bid to optimize the structural design of lower floors while maintaining the roof construction program and reduce tower crane requirement to the minimum.

The alternative idea was to build the roof structure at L64 and jack it up by 47m but this meant commencement of steel works could only be started on completion of said level, with the slabs propped for 15 levels and therefore hindering other activities including block work, MEP, façade and resulting in an overall delay and more work at height.

RESULT

All the above changes contributed to improve the buildability and allowed the saving of 9000 Tons of steel in the core walls and 1500 Tons in the columns. To give an order of magnitude of these last figures, it is more than the overall tonnage of steel used for the roof of the 60,000 seats King Abdullah Sport City Stadium in Jeddah.

Beyond economical benefits, the alternative design proposed by Six Construct was safer to execute by limiting the handling of heavy elements as well as complicated welding operations at heights.